4/25/2007 12:04:00 PM Soroptimists celebrate 60 years in Jefferson County
Port Townsend/East Jefferson County Soroptimist members in 2007, the club’s 60th anniversary year, are (from left, front row) Judy Cavett, Joanne Dille, Karen Bednarski, Darlene VanSlyke, (second row) Harriett Logg, Karin Morgan, Bickie Steffan, Ella Sandvig, Karen Hankins, Juelie Dalzell, (third row) Betty Oakes, Ann Burkart, Carol Wise, (fourth row) Alyce Hanson, Kerri Robinson, Sherry Perry, Barbara McTavish, Kay Pownall, Susan Zoya, Suzie Carroll, (fifth row) Karen Page, Joy McFaddin, Nancy Stelow, Marilyn Staples, Fran O'Brien, Suzanne Wildman, Ruth Gordon, Pat Durbin, Judi Morris. Not pictured are Jan Walch, Jessie Dover, Bonnie Ludlow, Donna Hoglund. – Photo by Chuk Trisko
Local Soroptimists celebrate 60 years of service to Jefferson County with a special reception and thank-you to the community from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 2 at the Inn at Port Hadlock Bayview Room.
Much of the work of the Port Townsend/East Jefferson County Soroptimists - a service club comprising area business and professional women - is done without acclaim. During the past decade, its members have given hands-on and fiscal support to such important local projects as the county's domestic violence prevention program, Jumping Mouse Children's Center, breast cancer awareness and mammography programs, women's self-defense classes, Do-Your-Dream workshops, and Project Blanket for Iraqi children. The club financed and followed through with renovation of Willow Tree Park Triangle in Port Townsend.
And these are just the large projects. There were more, including the numerous annual scholarships for girls and women returning to school.
Now multiply these endeavors by six decades.
"I hate to use the term over-achievers because that sounds so medical," laughed Ella Sandvig, a 30-year member of the local Soroptimist chapter, "but we are go-getters.
"We call it a business and professional women's group, but it's all about doing - causing things to happen," Sandvig said. "When we look around and see what's needed, then we do it. It's about service to the community."
Worldwide, Soroptimists have been around since 1921, when professional organizer Stuart Morrow visited the Parker-Goddard Secretarial School, explaining that he hoped the school's two owners might join the newly formed Optimist Club in Oakland, Calif. To his surprise, he learned that the school was run by women and he excused himself, but not before Adelaide E. Goddard told him, "When the men admit women as members of their service clubs, I would be interested."
The best for women
Goddard's comment planted the seed of what would shortly thereafter become the first Soroptimists Club, organized by Morrow and nine Oakland-area businesswomen. The name, from the root words of "sister" and "best or highest good," has come to be synonymous with the organization's main focus: "the best for women."
Looking back over the past 60 years, Sandvig acknowledges that the club has changed as the roles of women in our culture have changed.
"In 1947, the Soroptimist members in this club were mostly women who co-owned a business with their husbands," said Sandvig. "Now it seems as if the bulk of the women among us are out on their own."
Among the 45 members of the local chapter are government officials, independent business owners, retired nurses, consultants and more. "Our group has a tendency to have more retired and second-career women," Sandvig noted, "which is not surprising, given the demographics of the area. At the same time," she added, "we check our politics at the door. This is not a group of Republicans or Democrats."
Sandvig also noted the regional and international efforts of the organization. "There are probably about 100,000 Soroptimists worldwide, in about 90 countries," said Sandvig. "And we support projects worldwide too."
Indeed, a quick look at the involvement of Soroptimists International shows its involvement in AIDS prevention, water projects, work training, medical programs and income-generating projects for women throughout the developing world.
"All of those projects are to improve the lives of women and girls," Sandvig said. "When I install new members to our chapter, I remind them that whatever benefits women and girls also helps men."
Preventing domestic violence
A strong focus for the local club during the past several decades has been domestic violence prevention. This has not gone unnoticed by Cheryl Bozarth, executive director of county's Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Program.
"The Soroptimists have always been amazingly generous with the level of support they give as individuals and as a group, and we rely on their support," Bozarth said.
"It's such a wonderful network," she said. "They have sense of the community and a sense of their role in the community. And they're willing to actually do something when there's a need."
Bozarth explained that her decision to take her current position in Port Townsend in 2005 was made, in part, because of the program's strong community support. "As a director, knowing that you have community support already, as opposed to taking 30 years to build it, made this program very attractive to me. You have to have community support because state dollars are not enough."
Appreciation
Looking back and celebrating 60 years as a service club is important to its members, but even more important is the opportunity this gives the group to thank others. "This is a big thank-you to everyone for supporting our fundraising," said Sandvig. "Our reception celebration is designed to express our appreciation for this community, not to toot our own horn."
An example of community support is the golf tournament fundraiser, which succeeds because of business sponsorships, noted member Nancy Stelow. During the past nine years the annual event has raised $48,000. This feeds the Soroptimists' general fund, which in turn supports scholarships and projects within the community.
But club membership is not all work. Soroptimists speak of the closeness and joy they have in each other's company.
"When there's even a hint of a problem, we mobilize," Stelow said. "We are a passionate group, and that passion is from the gut, no matter what it is: domestic violence prevention, breast cancer awareness, more education to better women's lives or caring for one of our own."
Soroptimists know that this passion will sustain and carry them forward into the next six decades. "When I get old and frail," said Sandvig, "I have always said that the last thing that I'm going to give up is the Soroptimists. That would be the absolute last thing."
(Beth Cahape of Port Townsend was a 2005 recipient of a Soroptimist "Do Your Dream" scholarship to complete a book-length project at a retreat center in Philadelphia.)
For "the rest of the story" and full coverage of all Port Townsend and Jefferson County news, events and people, subscribe to our award-winning weekly newspaper.
